Carton for cakes or the like



Sept. 10, 1957 E.H.RWTMUELLER CARTON FOR CAKES OR THE LIKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 11, 1955 INVENTOR EMIL H.RITTMUELLER KTTORNEYS Sept. 10, 1957 E. H. RITTMUELLER CARTON FOR CAKES OR THE LIKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 11. 1955 INVENTOR m. H. RITTMUELLER I ATTORNEYS United States Patent CARTON FOR CAKES OR THE LIKE Emil H. Rittmueller, Des Plaines, Ill., assignor to Advance Lithographing Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application July 11, 1955, Serial No. 521,215

1 Claim. (Cl. 229-52) This invention relates to improvements in cartons of the class which can be shipped in knockdown or folded form and assembled into carton shape at the place of use as needed, and which is provided with a carrying handle.

The carton of this invention is particularly useful in stores which sell bakery goods such ascakes and pies,

obviously of a fragile nature, and which should be transported by the purchaser without damage to the goods. It is particularly advantageous if the carton can be shipped to the store and stored in knockdown condition and yet may be readily and quickly assembled by the merchant to contain and protect the bakery goods at the time such goods are sold. While especially useful for bakery goods it will become apparent that the carton may be used for the transportation of materials other than bakery goods.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide improvements in a carton as of the character described which may be conveniently folded from knockdown condition into carton shape.

Another object of the invention is to provide in the above described carton a carrying handle which cooperates in the assembling of the device for locking it as well as supporting the carton and its contents into carrying position.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a carton of the class described the foregoing advantages and which may be made, preferably, from a single sheet of flat paper stock.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a carton having the foregoing advantages a carrying handle which serves to lock together the various panels of the carton when they are assembled into carton shape and carrying position.

Another object of the invention is to provide a foldable carton having the foregoing advantages and which when assembled may have outwardly and upwardly diverging side walls whereby the composite top wall has a greater surface area than the bottom wall thereof.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be mentioned specifically hereinafter or will become apparent from a perusal of the following specification in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown and described.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a carton made in accordance with this invention assembled into carton shape and in condition for carrying;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the pre-cut carton showing the various panels thereof partially bent from fiat shape preparatory to assembling;

Fig. 3 is a partial sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the carton blank showing it in fiat condition after being cut from a single sheet of fiat stock, such as paper.

Referring now to the drawings the carton is preferably cut or stamped from a single sheet of material so as to provide a bottom wall generally indicated as 11, opposed side wall members 13 and 15, opposed end walls 12 and 14 and tuck-in corner flaps 17, 19, 20 and 22 extending from the end walls 12 and 14 which are foldable along score lines such as 23. All score lines on which folding or hinging occurs are identified as 23.

As indicated in the drawings, after the blank has. been formed and the score lines impressed thereon, the carton blank may be shipped and stored in the condition'shown in Fig. 4. Let it be assumed that the purchaser of the carton will later employ it for covering a cake, and that the cake, as is at least customary though not necessary, is displayed for sale supported on a piece of stiff paper, possibly corrugated paper of a dimension equal to the area of the bottom of the cake, whether the latter be circular or square. This cake with-its supporting paper, if it has one, is placed on the center bottom panel 11, after which the end panels 12 and 14 will be folded upwardly and the two cover panels 24 and 25 will be folded to extend horizontally over the cake with the handle members 26 and 27 folded to extend vertically. As the handles are brought together the flap 16 will. be extended horizontally from the lower margin of the finger slot 28 through the lower portion of the finger slot 29, as shown in Fig. l.

it will be noted that the finger slot 28 in handle member 26 has a base length which is longer than the length of the base of finger slot 29. Flap 16 thus is in the shape of a trapezoid with a notch 30 at each end of its longer base. Notches 30 in flap 16 will engage a vertical margin of slot 29 and thus the handle members will be temporarily locked together with the four locking tabs 31 positioned snugly together as will be understood from viewing Fig. 1.

Next, the side wall panels 13 and 15 will be folded upwardly to cover the tuck-in flaps 17, 19, 20 and 22, and tuck-in flaps 18 and 21 continuous with the upper edge thereof are folded along score lines 23 and are tucked under the cover panels 24 and 25.

It will be noted that integral with the tucking flap 18 is a locking car 32, partially struck out therefrom, which projects upwardly in the plane of the side panel 13 (see Fig. 1), and the tucking flap 21 has a similar locking ear 33 which likewise projects upwardly from the panel 15. These locking ears are provided with punched out slots 34 and 35 which are so shaped and proportioned that when the locking tabs 31 in the pairs are inserted through the slots the ears and tabs become mutually locked together. The tab pairs have such outside dimensions that they must be pushed snugly through the slots and the notches in each tab such as 36 and 37 (see Fig. 4), cooperate in preventing accidental disengagement of the locking tabs from the locking ears. Inherent resiliency in the assembled and locked carton tends normally to seat the upper end of each ear slot in the upper notch 37 of each tab and hold it there.

When the carton is thus assembled the weight of the goods contained in the carton is readily carried through the cooperation of the double handle thus formed and the side wall panels. At the same time, all the panels of the carton are effectively locked in closure and carrying position by the various means above described.

Experience has shown that this carton with a handle can be assembled around a cake or pie as quickly as can be assembled the more conventional types of carton without handles which have heretofore been supplied to the bakery trade. Speed and convenience in assembly is increased by so cutting the flap 16 with its free end slightly narrower than the base of the finger grip slot 29 so that it may enter easily, but having its base portion just above the notches 30 (as Fig. 4 is viewed) slightly wider than slot 29. Hence when flap 16 is inserted into slot 29 (see Fig. 1) the notches 30 will readily establish a locking relation with handle member 27.

While it is apparent that this carton can be made from a single sheethofflat stock, and is especially designed ifortha't purpose, it Will now'appear thatsome of the 'parjtjs thereof canl'bel separately formed, and added thereto it desired, adhesively or by stapling, and many ofuthefadvantages of the invention will still be retained.

The outwardly diverging side walls are especially useful to contain such bakery goods as frosted cakes, but it desired the carton may be formed with vertical side walls or inwardly inclined side walls. 7 While the'drawings illustrate a preferred form of the invention it should be understood that the invention is susceptible of some variation and modification Without 'de'parting fromthe spirit and scope of the invention defined by the appended claim.

Having shown and described my invention, I claim:

A collapsible carton made from a single blank of sheet materialjand' comprising a bottom panel, a pair of opposed side wall members and a pair of opposed end walls hingedly connected to said bottom panel, a cover panel extending from, each of said end walls and foldable into horizontal position to constitute one-half of the cover of the carton, each of said cover panels having an extension foldable in a vertical upward position, each extensionbeing provided with a finger grip slot to define a handle member, one of said cover panels having a flap extension defined by a finger grip slot and arranged to lie in overlapping relationship with the other cover-panel, the edges of said last named flap extension having slots therein for locking engagement with the vertical margins of the finger grip slots so as to hold said handle member and said cover panels in abutting relationship, whereby there is defined upper and lower panels for the insertion of goods to be packaged, each, of said opposed side wall members consisting only of a side wall panel and a tuck-in flap continuous with. the upper edge thereof and foldable inwardly and horizontally under the aforesaid cover panels, a locking ear struck out from the area of each tuck-in flap prior to folding thereof and extending upwardly in the plane of and beyond the margin of its associated side wall, each locking ear having a vertically extending slot therein, and locking tabs extending from the end of said handle members and lockingly engageable with the slot of said locking ear for holding said handle members er'ectly and the carton locked and closed.

' References Cited the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,011,752, Cow1ishaw-,. -e Dec. 12, 1911 2,323,782 Kretchmer July 6, 1943 2,354,600 Kretchmer. July 15, 1944 V FOREIGN PATENTS 940,449. 

